I heard John Bonham played most of this song with hands and bled a lot during concerts because of it. Is that true? Was there really no other way to make the drums sound like this without using your hands?

I've never been a big fan of drum solos, especially long ones, but I've always been able to listen to this (it's just long enough); unfortunately, some otherwise great live, hard rock (usually double albums, in vinyl-speak) albums are marred by overly long drum solos (Kiss Alive, Grand Funk's Live Album, Deep Purple Made in Japan, anything live by Cream, etc.). Alot of jazz I've listened to has tastefully shorter drum solos. Everyone's got their own tastes, though.